Knighted By Midnight
by PenPatronus
Summary: What if Jonathan was holding Jessica's hand when she touched that lightning bolt? What would happen if they tried again to separate the darkling half from Rex? What were the Grayfoots really up to? An alternate ending of "Blue Noon." JxJ RxM DISCONTINUED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE


**Author's Note:** Point of view is indicated at the beginning of each chapter and section.

**Summary:** What if Jonathan had been holding Jessica's hand when she touched that lightning bolt? What would happen if they tried again to separate the darkling half from Rex? What were the Grayfoots really up to? This is an alternate ending / continuation of book 3, "Blue Noon." Jonathan / Jessica, Rex / Melissa. Please review.

**Knighted By Midnight  
**PenPatronus  
Chapter One:  
**Baptized By Lightning**

**JONATHAN**

Jonathan Martinez was no darkling, and comparatively he was a pretty "daylight" Midnighter. But even he was nearly blinded by the storm of bright colors bombarding Bixby, Oklahoma: the blue of midnight, the blurry transparent of rain, the red hue of the rip, the blanket shadow of a thousand darklings, the sky of fireworks and the blinding white lightning bolt.

"I have to do this."

Jonathan suddenly realized that his hand was empty and cold. He pivoted towards the frozen lightning, his heart thundering in his ears. Jessica stood with her back to Bixby, to him. She looked angelic with a silhouette of silver lightning. Her maroon hair was nearly pink.

"Are you sure?" He didn't mean for his voice to come out so meek, so hoarse.

Her fingers were inches from the lightning. Every atom of Jonathan screamed to stop her, to protect her, to save Jessica at all cost. Flame-bringer or not, touching lightning was crazy. It was suicide. But then Jonathan glanced back over his shoulder at the horde of darklings, and remembered that the alternative was crazy and suicidal too.

"Stand back."

"No. No way."

She turned to him, blinking. "What?"

"I'm not going anywhere, remember?" Jonathan took Jessica's left hand in his and kissed it. "Jess, I'm not going anywhere."

She tugged her hand back but he held on tight. With a yank of his own he brought her lips to his and soaked her up like sunlight.

"We don't know what will happen," Jessica whispered when he released her.

"I've touched you when you had a flashlight lit and I didn't feel anything."

"This is different—this is _lightning_! Jonathan…Look at all the darklings. We might've already lost Rex and Melissa…and Beth. I can't risk you, too."

"There's no time to argue. I'm not letting go."

Jessica blinked. "I love you."

Jonathan swallowed, and he suddenly kissed her again. He didn't have the time or the courage to express himself with words.

"All right then…hold on tight," Jessica whispered, squeezing his hand.

_As long as I'm alive_, Jonathan thought. Behind him, Dess's fireworks went off and Jessica's eyes reflected the orange and yellow. And then she pivoted, and her right hand was outstretched. She inhaled…

Jonathan closed his eyes.

--

**JESSICA**

It was like swallowing a sun.

Jessica opened her mouth to scream but even her voice was consumed.

For a lengthy moment, the lightning gripped her back. It wound around her body like an ancient darkling's tendrils. She felt it scamper down her limbs and zigzag through her cells. A blast of power passed through her hand and into Jonathan, whose grip immediately slackened. Jessica managed to rotate her head enough degrees to watch his body lift up into the air, his jacket and legs flailing like a flag in the wind of midnight gravity. And then, just as suddenly, Jonathan became a deadweight. He landed facedown on the roof, and stayed there. His hand slipped out of hers and folded down beside him without any acknowledgement of special gravity.

She couldn't feel anything but the avalanche of power dissolving the world. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the red rip retreat. It shriveled up and was swallowed by the blue, but then a violet color appeared where it had died. The violet zigzag was like the ghost of the bolt of lightning Jessica had just unleashed. It hung in the air between Pegasus and the building Dess was on. For a second or two of Jessica's reckoning, the purple lightning winked at her, and then it disappeared along with the blue time. Normal time, Flatland, silently arrived and washed the nightmare away.

But still, something was very wrong.

Jessica groaned as a dissolving pain replaced the numb shock of the lightning. She fell forward onto all fours, landing beside Jonathan. She felt her consciousness retreating, running for cover into whatever safe part of her brain remained. "Jonathan—" she gasped. She couldn't let herself pass out until she knew if he was all right.

"_Jonathan_?"

He didn't stir.

The last of Jessica's strength left her with an exhale of grief. She collapsed down, and her last conscious thought was of amazement that she was falling, but hadn't yet hit the roof…

**To Be Continued**


End file.
